Google Acquires PostRank, An Analytics Service For The Social Web

In another move that makes it clear that Google is putting a much greater focus on ‘social’, the search giant has just acquired PostRank. Terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

PostRank is a service that helps measure how far content, like tweets and Facebook updates, spread across the web. PostRank’s products include ‘Analytics’, which let you see which users are sharing your content and where — as well as how your competitors are doing. Its ‘Connect’product helps brands connect with influential users. You can find our coverage of their Activity Streams feature, which launched last year, here.

Here’s the note that PostRank just posted on its homepage:

We know that making sense of social engagement data is crucial for online businesses, which is why we’ve worked hard to monitor where and when content generates meaningful interactions across the web. Indeed, conversations online are an important signal for advertisers, publishers, developers and consumers — but today’s tools only skim the surface of what we think is possible.

We’re proud of what we’ve accomplished, and we now look forward to working with Google’s team to build more useful tools for measuring engagement online, and we’ll be sure to share details on our progress in the coming months. In the meantime, if you’re interested to learn more about PostRank’s products and services, we encourage you to click here and fill out the form.

The service will continue to operate for existing customers, but new signups have been closed down. Google isn’t saying what the team will be working on, though they will be relocating from Waterloo to Google’s Mountain View headquarters. The size of the team isn’t being disclosed, either, but I’m told it’s less than two dozen. A Google spokesperson gave us this statement:

“We’re always looking for new ways to measure and analyze data, and as social analytics become increasingly important for online businesses, we’re excited to work with the PostRank team to make this data more actionable and accountable. They have developed an innovative approach to measuring web engagement, and we think they can help us improve our products for our users and advertisers.”